French hardcore? Blimey – they’ll be telling me the Pope’s still alive next! Somewhat of a surprise when I opened this package up, I was rather intrigued by the band’s bio that, in quoting influences such as Refused, Raised Fist, Sick Of It All and Stretch Arm Strong, suggested this lot could actually be quite impressive. Plus, rather than a singer, they have someone who chants! Unless they don’t know the word in English and slipped in the French instead. It sounds cool anyway. Moving away from my incessant rambling, Nonsense sadly don’t live up to their influences. While the drums are amazing, the vocals tend to be pretty average and the riffs aren’t inventive enough to keep me interested.
While ‘End Of Days’ does sound a little like Refused in places, this is pretty bog standard shouty hardcore. The vocals tend to bark rather than growl – for me there isn’t too much feeling or emotion, just a token bowling shifting noise. As someone who doesn’t tend to like hardcore bands, for me songs must have interesting structures and a singer who actually feels what he’s doing. For me Nonsense just appear to be going through the motions, churning out de-tuned riff after de-tuned riff. The drums are fucking greta though, the latter parts of ‘Sick Fist’ are so fast I thought his arms would surely fall off. ‘You Make Me Feel Right’ showcases Al’s vocals, but in truth they’re a bit weak and not s high up in the mix as they should be. The guitar tone is also pretty smilar all the way through and that doesn’t help distinguish one song from the other all that well.
These guys can obviously play and I could see how they’d be doing well in the French hardcore scene, but there are plenty of bands out there who do things so much better. Nonsense are worth checking out if only for the insanely fast ‘Shorter, Faster, Stronger!’, but truth be told this isn’t going to make too many people stand up and take notice. More Bernard Diomede than Patrick Vieria I’m afraid…
www.nonsensehardcore.com
Senseless Records
Paul